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SILVER Seller in Milano, Italy
Lapis manner engraving by Luigi Calamatta (Civitavecchia, 1801 – Milan, 1868) depicting a portrait of Paganini. Calamatta was an Italian engraver and patriot. Soon left an orphan, he was entrusted to his uncle Giovanni Antonio who had him study in Rome at the Hospice of San Michele. It was here that he began to take an interest in drawing and practiced engraving with the master Antonio Ricciani (1755-1836) and Domenico Marchetti (1780-1844 post). The Parisian experience where he collaborated for years with the engraver Taurel was important in his education. From the friendship with the famous neoclassical painter J. A. D. Ingres (Montauban, 1780 – Paris, 1867) we have a splendid drawing from 1828 with a young Calamatta with a rebellious appearance intent on engraving. He then took study trips to Germany and Holland. He returned to Italy in 1829 due to health problems and began the engraving of the Mona Lisa for which he received the gold medal in 1855 at the 1st Universal Exhibition in Paris. During his life he received various prizes, recognitions and professorships such as that of Brera. In 1858 he filed the patent in Italy for the steeling of branches, already in use in France; it is a technical expedient that slows down the wear of the plates so that a greater number of copies can be obtained. Half-length portrait, slightly turned to the right, of Nicolò Paganini (Genoa, 1782 – Nice, 1840) Italian violinist and composer. Calamatta translates a drawing by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres into engraving; three versions are known, one of which is now preserved in the Louvre. The drawing is dated 1819, the year in which Ingres himself played second violin together with Paganini. The portrait reveals all of Ingres' admiration for the proud and haughty virtuoso depicted. The use of stippling distinguishes the particularly detailed area of the face to render the chiaroscuro shades that define volume and expression. The dress, on the other hand, is made up of a few signs, the shadows obtained with a nervous juxtaposition of scratchy parallel lines. Bottom right in the engraving in italics as in the drawing: Ingres Del roma 1818. Below Calamatta Sculp. and in the center Paganini. In the second state it was added in capital letters: Roma Regia Calcografia. Beyond the image at the bottom left engraved: L. Calamatta. Modern edition with round embossed stamp of the National Calcography in the lower right corner. Good impression with background haze. Excellent state of conservation. Wide margins. Bibliography: Le Blanc 17, V. 1 p. 562; Rosalba Dinoia, Luigi Calamatta, engraver and patriot in Europe, Palombi, 2012. Plate: 31.2 x 24.3 cm.
ID: 11318-1717666200-93464
